Partners
by ipreferwestside
Summary: She didn't miss the tightening in Castle's jaw when he saw her; his eyes followed her from his perch at the headboard, but as she got ready for bed he said nothing. A speculative 8x02 post-ep. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Only re-read through this a couple times, mistakes and speculation are mine, characters are not. Was supposed to be an 8x01 post-ep but ended up being a speculative 8x02 post-ep. Enjoy!_

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 **PARTNERS**

"Good night, Alexis." Kate bid her step-daughter – it still felt weird to say that – good night with a hug, and took a deep breath before heading through Castle's office to the bedroom. She winced when she crossed the threshold. Not from the stitches in her abdomen, although the two-day-old wound hurt; it was the sight of her husband that stung the most.

Castle was mad. Really mad. He'd barely said a word on their way home from the precinct, and he simply kissed Alexis good night before retreating to the bedroom. So Kate had explained everything to Alexis, leaving nothing out. _She helped find you, Beckett. She deserves to know,_ Castle had said at her hesitation to divulge too much. But Alexis had listened, asked questions, and although she still didn't like that Kate had lied, she'd said she understood. And the two of them had made peace before Alexis went upstairs for the night.

Now, paused just inside the door, Kate instinctively pressed a hand to the wound on her stomach. She didn't miss the tightening in Castle's jaw when he saw her; his eyes followed her from his perch at the headboard, but as she got ready for bed he said nothing. Kate moved slowly, going through her nighttime routine, part of her dreading the conversation that needed to happen. But finally, she couldn't delay any more. She stood at her side of the bed, hands tucked into the pockets of her robe, and met Castle's steely gaze.

"I'm sorry, Rick," she began, her fingers clenched, her voice strong.

"You lied to me," Castle replied, a repeat of his words earlier, but his time angry instead of disbelieving. "I thought we were past that. I thought _you_ were past that."

Kate barely flinched. "I will always do what I feel is right to protect the ones I love," she shot back. "I'm sorry for what I did but I'm not sorry for my motives."

"Your motives?" Castle climbed off the bed, facing her from the other side. "Dammit, Kate. When I find your bracelet in a pile of blood, _your_ blood, what do you think I'll do, sit around and twiddle my thumbs, wait for you to come home? No, I'm going to try and find you." His voice was getting louder, almost of its own volition. "If you wanted to protect me, you should have told me what the hell was going on!"

"Like that would have stopped you?!" Kate yelled, arms crossed. "I just needed you to stay _out_ of it, Castle! But no, you kept fucking going, as usual. You say you trust me, but do you really?"

Castle's jaw dropped. "Do I trust—of course I do! But it goes both ways. We're married, Kate. Partners in crime _and in life._ Or did you forget that?" He raked a hand through his hair. "But no, you lie to me, to my face, go off and get _shot_ —" His voice broke on the word.

 _Oh._

Kate froze when she saw his shoulders slump. She made her way to his side and put a tentative hand between his shoulder blades, felt the shaky exhale beneath her palm. "I'm okay, Rick," she said softly, barely a whisper. "It was just a graze. You saw it, it just bled like a bitch."

Castle managed a chuckle at that. He'd stood by Kate's side as Lanie restitched the wound and changed the bandage, and Kate was right. It was only a graze, no more than a few inches long, but still. His _wife_ had been _shot_ and he'd been practically helpless. "Shot is shot, Kate," he rasped out. "Fuck, when I saw your clothes, your blood, all I could think of was that day in the cemetery."

"God, Castle," she whispered, dropping her forehead to his shoulder as she slowly rubbed his back. Her free hand made its way under his t-shirt, and she pressed her fingers against his own scar. "I'm sorry."

Castle turned his head and captured her mouth with his, swallowing her muttered words. He deepened the kiss almost immediately, his tongue slicking against hers in apology. He gripped her hips, felt as much as heard her moans, but when he started to turn her towards the bed she pulled away. He forced open his eyes to look at her in question.

Kate simply nudged him to sit on the bed, kissing briefly before taking his hands in hers. "Look at me, Castle," she commanded her voice soft yet firm.

Castle forced his gaze from her body to her eyes, and saw nothing but love. "I love you," he blurted out.

Kate slightly lifted the corners of her mouth in response. "I love you too, so very much." She lifted the hem of her shirt, slowly, until she was pulling it over her head. She winced as the movement tugged at her stitches; she was going to have to be careful if she didn't want to reopen her wound. She pulled off the bandage and took Castle's right hand, pressed his fingers against the spot. She gasped lightly at the touch, but refused to pull away. "See?" she whispered, her hand falling to her side. "Just a graze."

Castle stared for a few moments as if to burn in the memory the fact that it was _not_ life-threatening. Finally he lifted his other hand to bracket Kate's waist, his touch light as he brushed the sides of her breasts before circling her back, pulling her down to him.

"Together," Castle murmured against her lips. "We face everything together."

Kate pushed on Rick's shoulders, encouraging him to scoot back on the bed, and she climbed up to bracket his thighs with her knees. The movement stirred a memory: they mirrored almost exactly the night he had come back from Paris after rescuing Alexis over two years prior. _Please don't do anything like that again without me,_ she'd pleaded, and he'd smiled at her and agreed, had reinforced it later that night in this very bedroom. They'd promised and vowed to be partners, and while she'd never apologize for the reason she'd shut him out, she also promised herself that she wouldn't do it again.

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 _A/N 2: I have the beginnings of a potential part 2, so I'm leaving this as "in progress" for now. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N (bold so y'all see it): Please note the rating change from T to M. No handy line break this time so if that's not your thing you might want to turn away._**

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Kate tugged at the hem of Castle's shirt, and within moments she was flat against him, their naked chests pressed together. His hands wandered to her hips, and he tucked his thumbs beneath the waistband of her shorts, drew them as far down her legs as he could reach. She pushed them the rest of the way off and groaned against his mouth when he slicked a finger through her folds, barely grazing, teasing her.

Kate pulled her lips from his and gripped his shoulders, bracing herself as she instinctively moved her hips, trying to increase the friction against his hand. She drew her bottom lip into her mouth and dropped her chin to her chest when he slipped one thick finger inside. "Fuck, Castle," she moaned, her hips rotating, his palm pressing against her swollen clit. "Just—"

Castle tugged at his pajamas with his free hand, his fingers slipping out of her when she moved to help him. They groaned simultaneously when she sank onto him, and he gripped her hips as she moved. He wasn't going to last; his fear and anger had had his blood boiling already, and the added arousal had him close to the edge. "Kate—are you—"

"Yes," Kate gasped, her fingers pressing against her own bundle of nerves. "I—" She cried out when he suddenly sat up, holding himself up with a hand against the mattress, the other firm between her shoulder blades. His pelvis provided constant pressure against her, and she threaded her fingers through his hair as she panted against his neck.

Castle grit his teeth as he rocked into her. He was barely moving, but in this position he was deep, and his hips started to jerk sloppily as he tried to hold on. "Kate—I'm going to—oh shit!" He froze, muscles tensing as he spilled into her. Finally, he pulled his head back from its resting place on her shoulder and met her lips in a sloppy kiss. His hand joined hers between them, and within moments she was crying out with her own release.

Kate gripped Castle's shoulders, her head thrown back as he kissed his way down her neck. He teased one breast, drawing her nipple between his teeth briefly and fanning the flame inside her, but she felt him freeze before he reached her other breast.

Castle stared at her scar, faded over time but still a reminder of what he'd almost lost, something that was usually a physical representation of how far they'd come. But tonight it just taunted him, reminded him of her secrets and lies from the past two days.

He pulled back and looked at her, at her flushed cheeks and swollen lips and mussed hair. She was his _wife,_ his _partner,_ and she was looking at him with wide, hopeful eyes, and he was sure she hoped that they were okay, that because they'd just had mind-blowing sex that everything was forgotten. That they could apologize to each other and be done with it.

 _No._

"Rick…" Kate's voice trailed off when she saw the set line of his jaw and the anger in his eyes. "What are you thinking?"

"You don't trust me."

It wasn't a question.

Kate was shaking her head before he even finished the sentence. "That's not it, Castle. I _wanted_ to tell you, but I _couldn't._ Not if I wanted to protect you…damn it, are we really going to have this argument again? Now?"

Castle unceremoniously scrambled out from under her and grabbed his pants from where they'd landed on the floor. "Yes. Because this isn't the first time you've lied, or kept a secret that affected both of us. Your shooting. Your interview in DC. You going off to face Bracken a few years ago. Any time you think you can handle something on your own you go off by your fucking self. And it needs to stop. It needs to stop _now._ "

"Castle—"

"No, Kate. I'm not done." Castle crossed his arms. "You didn't answer my question. You don't trust me, do you? You don't believe that I'll have your back, that I'll do anything to keep you safe, do you?"

Kate slipped her robe on and wrapped it tight around herself. "I do, Rick. I trust you with my life."

"But not your secrets."

"Rick—" Kate narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you want me to say. I do trust you. I know you'll have my back. You've proven it time and time again."

"So why keep secrets?"

"I'm not the only one who's kept secrets, Castle," Kate fired back. "PI license, remember? You thought it would be a fun 'surprise?'" she sneered, air quotes highlighting the last word.

Castle shook his head. "That's different. Neither of us were ever in danger because of it."

"No, you just embarrassed me at _my crime scene_!"

"So this is about you being _embarrassed_?" They were starting to yell again; somewhere in the back of Castle's mind he realized he should try to keep it down, that Alexis was probably trying to sleep upstairs, but he couldn't control himself. "You want to know something about embarrassment? Try telling Ryan and Esposito, your former _partners,_ that their _boss,_ your own _wife,_ is off God knows where, and didn't tell you about it! How the hell do you think that feels, Kate? How do you think it feels to have no fucking clue where the love of your life is, all because she didn't tell you anything?"

"How do you—" Kate scoffed. "I'll tell you how it feels. It feels like complete shit. You know how I know that?" She pointed at the scar on his side. "Because while you were off getting _that_ and then forgetting about it, I was spending two months in absolute _hell,_ because you disappeared. God, Castle, at least you had proof I was alive! I had _nothing!_ So don't you dare tell me that I don't know what it's like. Because I do."

They stood facing each other, breathing hard, waiting for the other to break. Finally, Kate spoke again. "No more secrets, Rick. From either of us."

Castle let out a long exhale and walked around the bed to pull Kate into his arms. She melted against him, head on his shoulder, and he trailed his fingers up and down her spine. "No more secrets," he agreed. "I'm sorry I yelled. I'm sorry I brought up that shit. It's in the past, I had no right—"

"No," Kate interrupted, pulling back to look at him. "You were right about that. I'm so used to solving my own problems, having to do everything myself, that sometimes I slip back into independent mode. I forget that I don't have to do it alone." She reached up to caress his cheek. "I'm not sorry for wanting to protect you. But I am sorry that I shut you out."

They stood in each other's arms for a long time, lightly swaying, dancing to a beat only they could hear. Finally, Castle took her hands and stepped away. "Let's go to bed," he said quietly with a squeeze.

Kate gave him a tentative smile. "I like that idea."

"Good." After they were in bed with the lights off, Kate curled up into Rick's side, her head on his chest, he spoke again. "Are we okay?"

Kate pressed a soft kiss to his chest. "Always."

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 _A/N 2: Many thanks to Mandy for helping me with/brainstorming ideas for part of this (you know what part). Also thank you for putting up with my many "writing is stupid" comments._


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